


no one else will have me like you do

by bugabisous (mariafernanda)



Series: this love is a tangled web [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Knows, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), This is part of a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariafernanda/pseuds/bugabisous
Summary: “My lady, I,” he paused, his hand rubbing the back of his neck in a gesture that she now realized she had seen several times when he wasn’t suited up, “I need to talk to you. Could we meet up in 10 minutes, on the usual rooftop?”She froze and it was clear she must have looked panicked because he was quick to shake his head and smile at her, “I promise it’s nothing serious, but I just… I need to say it, okay?”
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: this love is a tangled web [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634344
Comments: 26
Kudos: 252





	no one else will have me like you do

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song 23 by Jimmy Eat World.
> 
> I am back with more of these dummies. It's ladynoir time this time. Let's see how they're doing.

Even with all her careful planning, she had to admit she wasn’t prepared to see _Chat Noir_. It was weird of her to differentiate him according to his personas, but while she had formulated a plan to handle the Adrien side of things, as well as Shenron, she had failed to account for one very important fact: She had to interact with him as Chat Noir, while she was Ladybug, and not give away the fact that she: a) knew his secret identity, and b) was Marinette, and therefore he had confessed to her without meaning to.

Acting as if nothing had changed when her mind kept screaming at her that he was _Adrien_ and he had _fallen in love with her as Marinette too_ and he was grinning at her with his hair windswept and his cheeks flushed and the thrill of the victory shining in his green eyes was harder than she could have predicted. Granted, the fact that she had not thought of it was a clear sign that she needed to go over her plan again and see how their partnership as Ladybug and Chat Noir was going to fit into the whole thing.

She had decided that the safer alternative was them dating as Shenron and Viperactive, without him knowing that she was Ladybug or that she knew who he was. Ladybug and Chat Noir dating was out of the question; while Hawkmoth and everyone in Paris suspected something might be going on between them, they didn’t need to throw gasoline to the fire by being openly dating. Sure, even if they weren’t together, they would still be each other’s weaknesses and everyone knew that, but there was a danger in confirming the extent of the feelings they shared.

She considered the notion of letting things play out, since she was sure he was going to approach her in their civilian sides, but her gut feeling had twisted at that and she had decided to trust her intuition with this. The fact that Adrien’s father was likely to use their relationship as some sort of bargaining chip for him to behave as the, pun completely intended, model son he wanted him to be crossed her mind as one of the reasons she should look for another way. She didn’t want to become a bargaining chip for Gabriel to use in his usual _Controlling Adrien_ game.

Shenron and Viperactive, though, were just some secondary heroes. They wouldn’t even show up in battle – or, at least, Viperactive was unlikely to ever do so. Shenron might show up occasionally, like he did that fateful night when she figured out his identity, but she knew Adrien would prefer to go against akumas as Chat Noir if he was given the choice. Shenron and Viperactive were just two people that patrolled once a week and stopped robberies or non-akuma related crimes and, while Alya still posted some rare pictures of them in Ladyblog, there wasn’t enough focus on them in that form. It was safer – and she could do with safe, she decided as she tried to not think about blue eyes and white suits.

“Pound it?” he offered his fist, bringing her back to reality, and she touched it with hers with a smile. “My lady, I,” he paused, his hand rubbing the back of his neck in a gesture that she now realized she had seen several times when he wasn’t suited up, “I need to talk to you. Could we meet up in 10 minutes, on the usual rooftop?”

She froze and it was clear she must have looked panicked because he was quick to shake his head and smile at her, “I promise it’s nothing serious, but I just… I need to say it, okay?” he squeezed her arms before moving away and vaulting over roofs in order to feed Plagg.

.

.

She wasn’t sure what to expect from her conversation with Chat Noir but, as she waited for him to arrive, she couldn’t help but imagine the worst despite the fact that he had said it wasn’t serious. She had a tendency to catastrophize, which wasn’t ideal when she was busy juggling so many secrets and with her treacherous heart in the balance.

She was so preoccupied that she only noticed Chat was there when he sat next to her and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. “ _Purrhaps_ it is you who needs to talk, LB,” he joked, “You seem to have a lot in your mind.”

“I am just curious about what you want to tell me, Chat, nothing else,” she touched his nose, “You can’t just say the phrase ‘we need to talk’ and expect a girl to not wonder if you’re breaking up with her,” she winked, trying to vanish the feeling of dread from her stomach. It mostly worked, codeword: mostly.

“Okay, first of all,” he pouted, “I didn’t say _we_ needed to talk, I told you that I needed to talk to you,” at her unimpressed glare he wilted a bit, “which I realize now is basically the same thing and can be alarming, I see your point,” he must have seen something like victory show in her face, because he was quick to add, “Regardless, my second point stands. We’re not dating, so there’s no ‘breaking up’, Ladybug.”

She faked a wince, “Whoops, you got me there,” she laughed. He laughed with her for a few moments before he suddenly became serious, though he didn’t seem mad.

“So,” he started, turning to look at her, “You know I love you, my lady.”

She felt herself blush, her heart hammering against her ribcage, and she was pretty sure that she had gasped. She had known he loved her, of course, since he had told her many times, but it was the first time he said it to her face, directly and _knowing he was saying it to her_ since she had realized that she had fallen for him. It was the first time that Chat, who was also Adrien, told her that he loved her since she had found out about his identity.

“It’s not a secret,” he shrugged, “I have never tried to hide it, and I will never do so. I love you, and I probably always will. You’re one of the most important people in my life, one of the very first real friends I ever made, and also my first love. You’re irreplaceable.”

Not for the first time, she wondered how he could say all of that without freaking out about it. When it came to expressing his feelings, he was certainly braver than her. Even knowing the truth, and knowing that he loved her, it took a lot of mental preparation before she could talk to him and casually drop the bomb that she liked Shenron – and even then she hadn’t admitted to anything more than liking him, despite being completely in love with every side of him. Meanwhile, he was out there proclaiming his love for her in every form, with no hesitation, as if it was as easy as breathing. It floored her.

“That being said,” he continued, taking her hand in his, “I recently realized I have feelings for someone else,” he said, making her breath stutter in her throat, “I had always thought of her as a friend, or at least I thought that’s what it was. But lately, I saw another side of her and I just, I have to admit that maybe I was always a bit in love with her and just didn’t see it,” he blushed and looked down, which was great because she was pretty sure she was failing at keeping her expression neutral, “and I found out that she likes me too,” he grinned with such an intensity that Marinette felt as if she would go blind from looking at him.

“I’m happy for you, Chat,” she managed to say, “You deserve to be with someone who loves you.”

He blushed again, “I don’t know if she loves me, yet, but I plan on trying my best to make her happy until she falls for me.”

She brought a hand to his cheek, making him look into her eyes, before she said, “I am sure she loves you, Chat. She’d be an idiot not to.”

He nuzzled her hand, leaning into her touch, and purred a bit under his breath, “I never knew you considered yourself to be an idiot, my lady,” he joked, but his voice was soft and his eyes were adoring. It was becoming increasingly difficult to resist kissing him, right then and there, and forget about secret identities. But she had to be strong, so she pulled her hand away.

Still, though, she couldn’t allow him to think she didn’t love him, “I never said I didn’t love you, Chat,” she replied, “I am in love with some boy from my class, is all,” she shrugged, hoping he didn’t catch onto the fact that she had never given him a hint about her mystery love before or that she hadn’t used her usual _I’m in love with someone else_ response. “In any case, it seems to have worked out perfectly, don’t you agree?”

“Hmm?”

“You have this girl now, and I’d like to believe you’ll be very happy together, kitty.”

He smiled at her, a lovesick expression taking over his face, “I hope so too, my lady.”

She couldn’t help herself and dropped a quick kiss to his cheek, enjoying the softness and warmth of his skin under her lips and feeling positively joyful at the way he blushed a little at the contact. “Good luck with your mystery girl, Chat,” she whispered.

He grinned brightly at her, “Thanks, Ladybug. I can honestly say I wish you and your mystery boy the best.”

 _It’s you,_ she wanted to say, _it has always been you_. But she stayed in silence, dropping her head on his shoulder and listening to him tell her a story about Plagg’s latest cheese-related rant. They were going to be okay.


End file.
